Run, Hide, & Kill
by Tealey
Summary: An abnormally warm November afternoon turns to death and destruction in the blink of an eye when a zombie epidemic takes a hold of the student body at a small unversity. AU
1. Chapter 1

Author's note:

Well, if you're reading this I have two things to say. 1: You actually read author's notes? 2: Welcome to my 1st ever fanfiction on this website. There's a few things you might need to know about this story but I'll just tell you about them in the corosponding chapeters. I don't own Glee and if I did ... let's just keep that a secret shall we?

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><p>At six A.M the annoying alarm clock goes off with its usual blaring screech startling the room's occupants awake. Queue hand smacking at said alarm clock. Also queue yet another alarm clock falling off the bedside table to its doom on the hard floor below. The murderer of the clock muttered a curse and sat up blurry eyed as the other person chuckled under his comforter. Shooting him a glare that would have burnt him alive if only he had heat vision, Arthur (A.k.a. the clock murderer, a.k.a. Artie) got out of the bed. "I don't know why you're laughing Jake; it's your turn to get a new clock." That shut him up fast. He grumbled and got out off the bed as well.<p>

"Why should I have to buy a new clock after you broke it?" Jake asked more than a little peeved. "I've only broken one clock, while you've broken like five. This deal is not at all balanced."

"A deal's a deal Jakey boy. Next time don't shake on it." Artie stretched his arms over his head and grabbed his bag of toiletries. Not that he would ever call it that out loud. That was kind of girly sounding for lack of a better description. He made his way slowly towards the door so as not to draw Jake's attention away from making his bed. He seemed to just sense something was off though, because he suddenly looked over his shoulder at him.

"Hey! Don't you dare go into the bathroom! My class starts before yours!" Jake tried to run and block the door, but his foot got caught on the blanket that was currently strewn on the floor waiting to be tucked neatly into the bed he had previously been trying to make. Artie, seeing his chance, ran out of the room before his cousin slash roommate could tackle him, or strangle him, or whatever he might have tried to do. Locking the door behind him he sighed in relief.

To a normal person this wouldn't be such a serious matter, but to the Abram boys it was a kill or be killed situation. Early bird gets the worm and all that, or in this case, if you fall on your face you go to the bathroom last.

He finished up and came out of the room slowly, looking around for Jake. The coast appeared to be clear, so he made his way deeper into the hallway when suddenly he was bowled over by what felt like a bag of cement blocks. The weight sat on his back for a moment before being removed. Sitting up stiffly Artie rolled over and looked right into the face of his cousin, the aforementioned bag of cement blocks. "That really hurt you know." He complained as he stood up and popped the kinks in his back and winced slightly. Jake shrugged and threw a grin at him as he walked into the bathroom and shut it firmly. The doorknob shook more then was strictly needed to signify the door had been locked, meaning no one could sneak in for revenge. Artie gave the door a kick and walked off to his room to get ready for class.

About an hour later (After having a short, but epic pillow battle with Jake in which he was victorious, mostly because he smacked him in the face and ran out of the apartment to class.) he was sitting in his seat texting his best friend Maria waiting for the devil of all math classes to start, Calculus. Out of nowhere a paper ball hit him in the face. Jerking his head up, he looked around for the culprit. Spying his class partner Toni, with an i as he was so adamant in telling him, grinning as he made his way over to the table; he rolled his eyes and tossed the ball back at him.

"Hey, there's a very important note on this paper ball!" Tossing the ball back to him he gestured for Artie to open it. Rolling his eyes once more he opened it and read the note with a faux look of deep concentration on his face. Once finished, he scrunched the ball back up and threw it at Toni causing it to bounce off his head and onto the floor.

"Since when is 'Hi Artie!' a very important note?" He asked with raised eyebrows.

"Since I wrote it and gave it to you saying it was a very important note." Toni replied smartly as he sat down in the seat next to Artie's. Shaking his head in response, Artie went back to his phone trying to get a few more texts in before the professor came in. Just as he was hitting send a shadow appeared on the table in front of him and he slowly looked up. Standing there in front of him was none other than the very person he was texting. He stared at her for a good minute before speaking. "Sooo what exactly are you doing here Miss DeLuca?"

"Welp, you see what had happened was, I switched out of my math class, and into this one. That way I could bug this really awesome kid I know all day." Maria nodded her head as if this was the most obvious thing in the world and sat in the last seat at the table on the other side of Toni. Speaking of which, Toni was currently staring at Maria like he would spontaneously combust if he looked away for even a moment.

Nudging Artie's shoulder he focused his attention momentarily on the bespectacled boy to ask, "Who is she, why do you know her, and is she single? The only correct answer to that last question is yes by the way."

"Um yea, I _can _hear you actually. I'd be quite happy to answer all of those questions." Before answering she threw Artie a look that clearly stated this kid is kind of weird. "I am Maria DeLuca, I am Artie's amazing best friend, and yes I do happen to be single." She then tossed her hair over her shoulder, and looked to the front of the class with her nose in the air. After a moment she looked over to see Artie looking at her amusedly with his chin in his hand, propped up on the table while Toni looked somewhat shattered at being shut down so hard. She managed to keep her composure for only a moment more before bursting out laughing. "That was a joke. I'm so not a snob. By the way, you sir have yet to introduce yourself to me." That may or may not have anything to do with the fact that she hadn't quite given him the opportunity to do so, but that was neither here nor there.

"Oh, well I'm Anthoni Binks, but call me Toni. That's with an i." A look of recognizition flashed across Maria's face.

"Ah, so your Artiekinz math partner!" She pointedly ignored the jab in her side caused by Artie's pencil, after calling him the forbidden nickname. Toni swallowed a laugh upon seeing the look on Artie's face and just nodded.

"Yes ma'am that is indeed who I am. Lucky for him too as he'd be so lost without me." He winced at the smack his head received at this, not to say he didn't expect it, but it still hurt. Pouting he rubbed his head and glared at Artie who just shrugged and looked to the front of the room where the professor, who had finally arrived, was about to start the class.

After class the three college students walked together to the mess hall to get a quick pick me up after a grueling day of math. Toni picked up his usual double chocolate, chocolate chip muffin, and as usual Artie nearly gagged at the sight of it. He picked up apple cinnamon which was a less death wish granting muffin. Maria assumed she could bum some muffin from the both of them, as they were huge, and just grabbed some coffee. They headed to a table by the window and sat down. "So," Artie started, "how did you enjoy your new math class Maria dearest?"

She stuffed a piece of his muffin in her mouth and chewed before answering. "It was very math like. Thanks for asking."

"You're a clever one aren't you?" This was of course asked sarcastically. "FYI, you have to ask for some of my muffin." She just took another piece without a word and chewed on it slowly while making eye contact with him the whole time. He narrowed his eyes at her and scooted his plate closer to his body. Shrugging, she moved onto Toni's muffin which he shared with no problem as he was too busy staring at her to care about his food. "Take a picture man, it'll last longer." Toni jerked at his voice and turned a bright red.

"I have no idea what you are talking about Arthur." He casually took a bite of his muffin and looked out the window as nonchalantly as he possibly could. Not that anybody bought his act, but it was a valiant try just the same.

They sat for a bit just enjoying each other's company and the sounds of the people around them when their companionable silence was interrupted by a thump on the window next to the table they currently inhabited. The teens jumped and swiveled their heads in unison to see what was happening. To their surprise someone was on the other side of the glass laying on the ground. The person seemed to have smacked the window before falling to the ground or passing out for whatever reason. Whoever it was, looked a little worse for wear as their paper white skin had a green tint to it like they would be ill at any moment had they been awake. Toni, ever the caring one, quickly rushed out the door to try and help the person outside. Maria and Artie looked at each other briefly before running after him. By the time they caught up he was already bent over the person that they could now see was a girl, trying to rouse them from their unconscious state. She groaned a few times and opened her eyes staring somewhat lifelessly at them before they fluttered shut again. Curious passers bye were starting to look on with interest so now was probably a good time to move the girl. Toni looked at Artie in a silent plea for assistance; Artie sighed, but complied, helping him lift the girl while Maria watched with worried eyes. They carried her all the way over to the infirmary and put her down on one of the cots the room held. The nurse, seeing them, hurried over. "What seems to be the problem with this poor girl? She looks positively green." The nurse asked concernedly as she began checking her over.

"We have no idea; she kinda just fell over next to us and we thought she could use some help." Toni answered her as the other two were unsure what to say.

"Oh, that is so nice of you. I wish more people your age would extend a helping hand to someone who needed it. By the looks of her she definitely needed it." She pulled a pen light out of the front pocket of her uniform and pried open an eyelid to observe her pupils. Even with the light fully in the girl's eye there was no change. She looked up at the others with a confused look on her face. "You're all sure you have no idea at all what could be wrong with this girl?"

Artie looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Look ma'am, we don't even know her so there's not really much reason for us to know what was wrong with her now is there?" Maria elbowed him in the side and he stepped away from her shooting her a small glare. "Well I'm sorry, but it's true. Personally I just thought she was on something, but judging by your reaction that is not the case. Do _you _have any idea what could be wrong with her?"

The nurse stared at him a moment before speaking. "Well going purely by the results of the quick check I just did I would honestly have to tell you she was dead." Three blank stares met her words. "I know it sounds crazy as you can clearly see her chest rising and falling, but it doesn't seem she's actually taking in any air, just going through the motions of living." Again she was met with blank stares, but this time Maria ventured to speak.

"What does that mean? It kind of sounds like … surely that's not what you mean so … I'm not sure what I even want to say right now. This seems crazy. We should call for an ambulance or something." Behind them they heard stirring and turned around to see the girl jerking around on the cot like she was having a seizure. The nurse rushed over to calm her while Maria dialed 911 on her cell. Soon thereafter the girl stopped moving and was still. After what seemed like forever, the ambulance came and rushed the girl to the hospital.

"I hope that girl is okay." Toni said as they headed away from the infirmary.

"I wonder what was even wrong with her." Artie chimed in.

"We don't even know what her name is to ask if she's okay later." Maria added.

Artie shrugged, "Well I guess we could always ask about it later I mean … actually I don't know what I mean. I _do_ know that I'm slightly freaked out by what just happened." The other two nodded in agreement. "I hope whatever was wrong with her isn't like contagious or something, because one, I hate being sick, and two, that was freaky as hell." Again the other two nodded. "Well I don't know about you two, but I think I'm gonna go home, and not do my homework, because I'll be playing video games instead, if either of you wants to come over your welcome. I think Jake might still wanna whack me with a pillow." This time they both gave him identical what the hell looks. "It's a long story, anyway you in?"

"I wish I could party Artie, but you see I have to go actually _do_ my homework." Maria stated with a look of remorse.

"Yea I have to pick up my little sister from school. She went to some after school club or another and mom can't get her, so I got stuck with the job." Toni added, looking less than thrilled about it.

"Bummer, I guess I'll just have to play with Jake, and by play I mean I'll have to beat him at ever game again. Maybe we should just buy a new game to so we can have a fresh start." He stopped and pretended to think about this for a moment. "Meh, that sounds like a lot of work. I can do that on the weekend, for now whooping his butt will have to do."

"Oh, that's real nice of you. No wonder he likes you soooo much." Maria rolled her eyes and waved at the boys as she parted from them and headed to the dorm.

"Guess I best get going too then Art my man. I shall see you mañana." After patting him on the back Toni left, leaving Artie alone to head to his car and drive home.


	2. Chapter 2

**01-08-12**

Welcome to part 2! If you're still reading thank you! If this is your first time being here I hope you read ch 1 already and welcome! Okay enough with the yelling I need to get on with the warnings and such.

**Warnings: **Pillow fights, cursing, violence, angst. All things you would guess to be in a zombie tale.

On to the reading!

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><p>The first thing Artie noticed when he entered his apartment was the quiet. That was something that didn't happen often there so when it did it sent him on high alert. Peaking around a corner he saw his cousin snoring on the couch with the T.V. running in the background. How could he have possible missed the sound of his cousin snoring? He sounds like a buzz saw in a blender. He quietly made his way to the couch and stood over him. Taking his hand he plugged his nose with his fingers and waited for the sensation to wake Jake up. After a second, Jake let out a sleepy, annoyed snort, and blinked drowsily. Upon noticing Artie standing over him he jumped and his eyes widened. Realizing who it was he tried to push him, but Artie had fallen on the floor laughing causing him to miss. Jake glared at him and stood up so he could kick him in the side. Satisfied at the hiss of pain his cousin let out, he walked over to the kitchen to grab a snack.<p>

"That was really mean you know." Artie pouted ad he rubbed his tender side.

"Like you're one to talk about being nice. Standing over people like a serial killer is hardly the definition of nice. At least not by my book, who knows what you've been reading."

"Hey! I didn't physically hurt you."

"Well let's just call it payback for this morning."

"I don't understand how I could be related to you Jake, you're so mean to me. I thought we was homies yo. We blood, we family." Artie then proceeded to break down in the fakest tears he possibly could. Jake of course, used to his cousin's antics, ignored him and continued to make his sandwich. Noticing Jake wasn't paying him any attention, he stuck his tongue out and headed to their shared bedroom. "Fine, be that way you hater. I'll just go take a nap. I was going to school you in video games, but my beauty sleep is more important anyway."

"You're gonna have to sleep for a good ten years to improve your face if that's the case." Jake called after him.

"You're mom!" Artie called back before slamming his door.

"I'm telling her you said that too!"

Artie threw the door open and looked at Jake through narrowed eyes. "Auntie knows I'm playing don't do that." Jake just stuck his tongue out at him as revenge from before. Artie just shook his head and shut the door again.

A couple hours later Artie was startled awake by a dull thud that seemed to be coming from the bathroom. Blinking away the sleep, he shakily stood up and headed to investigate the sound. The lights were off in the apartment so he could easily see the light coming from the crack underneath the bathroom door. He knocked on the door and called out, "Yo Cuz, you okay in there?"

After a moment he got a mumbled response, "I don't know." With raised eyebrows he opened the door and saw his cousin on the floor of the bathroom looking rather dazed.

"What happened to you man? Did you slip on some water again?"

"I only did that three times, let it go." Jake told him in a feeble attempt at a yell. He let out a weak cough and tried to stand up. Seeing Jake's need for assistance, Artie helped him up and lead him to his bed.

"Okay so if you didn't slip what did happen? You look and sound awful. Are you sick? You seemed fine before I went to sleep." He shrugged and coughed again. "Do you need me to get you some medicine or something?"

"No, I'm fine. I just need to sleep it off I think. I felt a little funny before you came home, that's why I was napping on the couch."

"What had you been doing they whole time _I_ was asleep?"

"I was huddled under a blanket watching the Food Network." Artie laughed and gave him a look like seriously man the Food Network? "I happen to like that channel thank you very much. You don't seem to mind when I make that awesome food."

"Dear Jake you have a point. You still need to teach me how to make that stuffing. Turkey is coming up soon after all."

Jake nodded, "Yea I know, I'll get around to it." He coughed a few more times. "After I get over this illness of course."

"Of course. We can't have you coughing up a lung in our dinner. That's an appetite killer if ever there was one. Go ahead and go to sleep then. I'm probably gonna crash too. I don't know how I stayed up all class after going to bed so late."

"I told you not to have a Harry Potter movie marathon in the middle of the week, but no you just had too."

"Well I did! Just hush and go to bed." He grumbled the last part as he went to change into his pajamas and head back to sleep. Both boys fell asleep rather quickly after all conversation stopped and stayed that way for several hours. Once again Artie found his sleep interrupted by something out of his control. This time it was the incessant ringing of his cell phone. All he could think with his sleep fogged brain was, I thought I had put that stupid thing on silent. Who dares interrupts my sleep? Everyone knows better than that. His annoyance was waking him up rather quickly as he got up and rifled through his pants pocket for his cell. Finding it and pulling it out he answered the phone in a not so friendly tone. "Whoever this is I swear you better be dying and if you're not I'd be very happy to fix that for you."

"I'm not dying, but my roommate isn't as lucky."

Artie blinked at the phone and spoke again, "I'm sorry what? Maria what happened to your roommate?"

"I don't, I don't even know Artie! It's like she lost her mind or something!" Artie raised his eyebrows at the phone, but didn't say anything waiting for her to finish. "She seemed like she was sick just like that girl from this afternoon and I was worried about her. I told her to go to the hospital, but she said she was fine, and that she would just sleep it off. She figured it was just some 24 hour virus or something I don't know. So I was like okay fine whatever. So about ten minutes ago I hear this thump and I go check on her and she's on the floor spazzing out just like the girl at the infirmary. I didn't know what to do so I just held her. After she stopped I dragged her back onto her bed and turned around to leave. Next thing I know I feel a hand on the back of my neck dragging me backwards. I panic and swing my hand back hitting Stacy, that's my roommate in case you forgot, in the face. She grunted and let go. I spin around and her face is like green. Like I'm gonna hurl or I just hurled green. It was nasty. I reached for her to see what the matter was and she grabs my wrist and tries to bite me! Can you believe it? I kept yelling at her to stop and she wouldn't so I smacked her on the head with my Calculus book. I knew that book was too damn heavy because she's knocked out cold." She finally stopped talking and took in deep breaths. She hardly stopped for air as she told him what happened.

During her story Artie got paler and paler. His thoughts from earlier in the infirmary coming back to him know. As horrified as he was he couldn't panic. Maria needed him. "Maria hun, where is Stacy right now?"

"Oh she's in her room. I pushed the coach in front of the door so if she woke up she couldn't get out." She said this with feigned nonchalance, but Artie had known her long enough to hear the fear creeping in her voice.

"Doll I know you don't want to be thinking what we both know is happening so I need you to just get out of there. Can you do that? You can come over here."

Maria nodded then remembered she was on a phone so spoke up. "Yea sure I can do- OH MY GOD!" She screamed into the phone before he heard the soft thunk of the cell hitting the carpet as she dropped it.

"Maria? Maria! MARIA!" Artie yelled helplessly into the phone trying to figure out what was going on. No, he knew what was probably going on. He just wanted almost anything else to be happening right now. He heard a groan behind him and turned around slowly. Jake seemed to be stirring. His yelling must have woken him up. "Hey Jake I'm sorry I'm being loud, but something's going on with Maria." No response was given. Artie looked at the misshapen pile of blankets that was his cousin and raised his eyebrows, but went back to his phone. "Maria are you there can you hear me!" He heard scuffling and then panting as the Maria picked up the phone and brought it to her face.

She was in tears as she spoke, "Artie I can't, oh my God it's so horrible." She broke down into harder sobs making her impossible to understand.

"Maria hey, hey it's gonna be okay alright? I'm coming to get you." He again heard noise behind him. This time it was the shuffling of feet on the floor. He looked to see his cousin coming towards him. Seeing as they were both up he went and turned on the light. Blinking at the sudden brightness he took in Jake's appearance as he came closer. Something was off about it and it made his heart drop into his stomach; he was a sickly green color like he was about to be sick and had what appeared to be blood caked around his face. Where had _that _come from? Momentarily forgetting the phone he spoke to him in a worried tone. "Dude are you okay?" He knew he was far from okay, but he had to ask anyway. His only response was a moan which was also the only warning he got before Jake lunged at him. Why must he be so heavy, he thought to himself. Artie punched him in the face, and he fell back, but not before raking his jagged nails down his arm. Hissing in pain he jumped back, and looked at it. The skin wasn't broken, but there was a trail of four angry red lines that were already starting to swell. "What's wrong with you man!" Once again he didn't speak just moaned, then jumped at him. Stepping out of his way Artie shoved him from behind and ran into the living room. He could hear Jake coming behind him.

At this point he knew something was terribly wrong with Jake, though he had pretty much figured from the start there was a problem. The idea that had been forming in his head for a while now was too awful to think about, and he really didn't want to be right. How could that be right? That just wasn't possible. Falling to the floor as Artie's, clearly not in his right mind, cousin leapt on his back. He shouted in surprise and rolled him off. Searching around the room wildly he looked for something to defend himself with. Spotting the floor lamp he ran towards it, and turned around to face Jake. "Alright you want me, come get me." As if egging him on really had some affect on his actions Jake came flying across the room at Artie. Swinging the lamp around like the ninja he wished he was he hit him in the dead center of his head and heard a sickening crack as he fell to the ground immobile. Panting from exertion he dropped the lamp and fell to his knees in shock. This is actually happening, he thought to himself. I just killed my cousin. My cousin was a zombie.


	3. Chapter 3

01-15-12

Well good readers I had to make a bit of a switch on you. This wasn't in the original story so I had to write it up for you special. Isn't that swell? Alright enough of that I should just get to the point. There is no Artie in this part, it's all Mike. Now on to the warnings.

**Warnings: Swearing, zombies(duh), blood, gore, character death (I didn't put this warning the first time cuz I didn't figure you'd care about an oc but this is _not_ an oc.), and angst I guess.**

On to the show!

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><p>"Help! Stop! Get it off me!" This is how one Mike Chang woke up, to the sounds of his sistercousin screaming bloody murder. Annoyed and sleepy he walked down the stairs to investigate the cause of the scream. Taking his sweet time he reached the bottom of the stairs and discovered his sister, Tina, laying on the ground with the family great Dane Scooby lying on top of her nonchalantly. He put a hand over his face to cover his laughter and shooed the dog off her but not before Scooby gave her a big wet lick. "Ewwwww!" She cried out once again. This time Mike really did laugh and was too distracted to dodge the couch pillow Tina smacked him in the face with.

"Ow! Not my fault the dog thought you were a couch." He ran back upstairs before she could do any more damage to his face. He wasn't a vain person but he didn't want his face bashed in thank you very much. The plan was that he was going to go back to sleep but after a half hour of listening to Tina doing Lord knows what downstairs he gave up and got dressed. Clearly he couldn't enjoy his day off from class without his sister breaking the damn house.

Once again downstairs he walked into the kitchen to see what exactly was going on. "Tina I love you and all but damnit I can't sleep when you're busting stuff up."

"I'm sorry Mike. I was trying to make breakfast and I can't find the skillet."

"What are you making breakfast for? Didn't mom and dad go out to get it like they always do?"

"Yea but that was like 2 hours ago. I'm starving and they won't answer the phone." She sighed dejectedly as she slammed the cabinet she had been searching through shut without having found the elusive skillet.

Mike sighed and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. "Teen, you can't cook anyway so what was the point of you looking for a skillet?"

Tine looked at the floor scuffing her toe on the tile and tried to put on an air of innocence. "Wellll I was maybe kinda gonna wake you up and make you do it." Mike gave her a slightly pissed off look. "What! It's not like you even went back to sleep. You can't be mad about it."

"You didn't know I wasn't gonna be able to sleep. Anyway that's your fault for banging about the kitchen like a big brass band. Anyway if you actually bothered to learn how to cook Miss Cohen, you'd know where crap was. You've lived here for like ten years get a gripe you dope. " He went to the lower far end cabinet, opened it, and proceeded to pull out the skillet. "This is where it was." She stuck her tongue out at him and he rolled his eyes as he went to start breakfast.

After what felt like the longest forty five minutes of his life they managed to get breakfast finished. If Tina hadn't insisted on trying to help and asking how to do this and how to do that and oh lighting that dish rag on fire it wouldn't have taken as long but no big deal he just had to bandage his hand a little bit. French toast had no excuse taking that long or being that dangerous. They managed to eat it in relative peace but they both wondered the where their parents were.

A few hours later after restlessly roaming the house with no one but the dog and themselves to keep them company Tina decided to go for a walk and Mike decided to take a nap to make up for his sleep being interrupted. They really were quite the exciting bunch. After the uneventful morning random thoughts were roaming around Mike's head. That tended to happen when he was bored with nothing to distract him. As he lay there trying to sleep he couldn't help but wonder what on earth his parents were doing. Thinking about his parents made him think about his sister. Technically he was an only child but when he was nine his parents took Tina in. He really was related to the girl but not as siblings. She was his cousin on his Mom's side of the family. When her parents died in a terrible car accident she came to live with them. Mike never really was sure why his parents felt the need to adopt her when they were already related but whatever floats their boat. Mike groaned and rolled over wondering why he was even thinking about that. Maybe he was just feeling nostalgic or something or it could be sleep deprivation.

The next thing he knew he was blinking awake completely baffled. When had he actually fallen asleep? He'd been having a really realistic dream about smothering and had then found himself suddenly awake and wait … the heavy feeling in his chest still remained even though he was no longer dreaming. Opening his eyes fully, he groaned and shoved Scooby off of him. It was hard to believe that dog was only a puppy and had much more to grow. That dog just loved cuddling to much for his own good; he was going to crush somebody one day Mike just knew it. After giving the dog a pat on the head he went over to his laptop to get on Facebook. It was weirdly dead for that time of day on a weekend. Scrolling through the posts his brows furrowed as he read some of them. There was some kind of epidemic going around it seemed. Yuck, he thought to himself, I hope I don't catch it. There were also a few posts that just left him confused. His friend Sandy was ranting about zombies or something weird. Was there a new movie out that he wasn't aware of? Shaking his head he clicked out the browser and went down stairs with Scooby trotting beside him.

Tina still wasn't back or at least there was no sign of her. After scouring the whole downstairs and finding no evidence the girl had been around since his retreat upstairs he went into the kitchen for a snack. Sure he had eaten before his nap but he was a teenage boy after all and they ate a lot. It got annoying sometimes actually. He was happily munching on tortilla chips and salsa when he was startled by a scream. Jerking in surprise, his arm smacked into the salsa jar sending it crashing to its doom on the tile below. Letting out a curse he bent down to clean it when he heard another scream. Scooby seemed unfazed by the noise and kept trying to lick up the mess before Mike shooed him off so the dog wouldn't hurt himself. Who the hell was screaming like that? One more time a scream was heard and it was closer. This time Scooby let out a happy bark. That was the bark he used on someone he knew coming to the house. The only logical deduction was that the scream must be coming from Tina.

Mike rushed outside with the overgrown puppy hot on his heels before stopping abruptly at the sight and then almost falling over when the eighty pound canine bashed into the back of his legs. There was someone attacking Tina but they didn't look quite right. It was a tall dark skinned man but his skin had a weird gray tint to it. Shaking himself out of his stupor he diced he could analyze the man after he kicked his ass for messing with his cousin. He rushed over and punched him in the side of the face taking him by surprise and making him stumble and fall. Tina tackled him in a hug then dragged him towards the house. Once inside she shut the door and slumped against it breathing heavily.

Mike's eyebrows raised and he looked at her waiting for an explanation. When none was forthcoming he outright asked. "Okay so are you gonna tell me what just happened or am I supposed to read your mind?" She took a deep breath and shook her head.

"It was awful Mikey." He made a face at the nickname but she ignored him and continued. "I was on my way back to the house when that guy came out of nowhere and jumped me! I didn't know what to do so I screamed and tried to fight him off. I swear he tried to bite me and he seemed out of his mind like he was on drugs or something. He wasn't even talking just grunting and groaning like a caveman or something."

Mike stared at her thoughtfully before being startled by a thump on the door. He peered out the window and saw it was the guy from before and it seemed a friend had joined him. They were both smacking their hands on the door repeatedly like they didn't have high enough brain function to just knock like a normal person. This was seriously getting on Mike's nerves so he got the idea to scare them off. He went into the kitchen and came back with a large cutting knife. Tina looked at him with wide eyes and he waved her off. It's not like he was really going to use it. He opened the door and began to speak. "Now look here," He started, pointing the knife first at the guy he punched then at his friend, "you can either leave or I use this." The both just groaned and simultaneously swiped at him shocking him enough to step back. One of their arms knocked the knife out of his hand and he took another step back, taking a defensive stance. He felt a presence behind him and briefly looked to see it was Tina. He tried to get her out of the room but she wouldn't budge. He sighed and focused his attention on the two nut jobs currently entering the house. One lunged at him with arms outstretched and locked onto his throat. He sputtered and reached out a leg to kick the man in the chest, wheezing as his throat was released.

"Oh my God Mike we should really just call the police!" Tina told him franticly, unsure if she should try to help fight the men off or if she should just drag her brother and hide somewhere.

"Just a minute." He stated simply heading back into the fray. The second man lunged not at him but at Tina and just when he was about to pull him off the first one latched onto his shoulder and tugged him backwards. Unfortunately for him his foot landed right on the salsa he hadn't managed to clean up and he slipped ass over elbow onto the ground smacking his head on the process. Momentarily stunned and seeing stars, he didn't get up quite as fast as he should have but Tina's scream and Scooby's aggressive barking made him stand up immediately, ignoring the sudden wave of dizziness he felt at doing so. His mouth fell open at the blood. There was so much blood. Was it really all Tina's? She was lying on the floor sobbing while the two men stood a few feet away. One of them had what appeared to be an ear in his mouth and Mike almost hurled on sight. What the actual fuck was going on? Dashing around him, Mike picked up the discarded knife and stabbed the man ruthlessly in the throat. The man seemed completely unaffected by it except for the slight jerk he gave as the knife went in. Mike dodged the swipe aimed at his head and backed into the counter standing stock still.

A wet gurgled moan brought his attention back to Tina. Before he was fully aware of his actions he'd rushed across the room and knocked himself head first into the mad man currently chewing on Tina's neck in what was way more than a vampire kink. The force of his tackle sent the man flying into the wall where he smacked his head and lay still leaving a blood smear on the wall. One down one to go. He turned to face the other only to once again have a horrified expression cross his face when he saw him head for Scooby. The puppy dog snarled and jumped at him biting his hand to no avail. The dog let out a pitiful whimper when teeth sunk into the back of his neck. Mike flinched when he heard a crack like bone snapping. There was no way human teeth could do that but then again some who completely disregarded pain might be able to do it. He grabbed the skillet he'd cooked with earlier off the stove where he'd left it dry after washing it and brought it down hard on the thing's, as there was no way he could qualify this as a man, head grimacing at the sickening crunch of bone. It slumped on the ground and didn't move.

Dropping the pan, he rushed over to Tina. She was not okay at all. There was a huge puddle of blood pooled around her head and it was still spreading. Mike crouched down and grabbed her hand looking at her with watery eyes. She blinked at him weakly and seemed to be trying to speak. He shushed her but she ignored him. "Mike," She rasped in a quiet voice that sounded like she was trying to gurgle and speak at the same time, "You … know what this means … right?" He nodded, silent tears streaming down his face. So that Facebook post wasn't about a movie after all. He knew that now. Tina coughed and spoke again, in that same slow, stilting, gurgle. "Don't feel bad … when you do it. You have to." She paused and took a deep shuddering breath. "Mike … I love you like my own … brother. You know that … right?" He nodded again. She smiled weakly and closed her eyes letting out a wet sigh before her chest stopped moving.

Mike let out a strangled moan of despair and stepped away from her body. His eyes were drawn to the pan he'd dropped on the floor and he grabbed it with shaky hands. He lifted it above his head and took one last look at her before bringing it down. He was close enough to her that blood flew back and splattered on him. The shock of seeing the bright red substance on his clothes and skin made him realize just how much of it there was. The smell of copper was overwhelming and the memories of what'd just happened were still fresh in his mind. Unable to take it any longer he rushed to the sink and retched.


	4. Chapter 4

1-22-12

Ahem, welcome back ladies and gents or whatever you wanna call yourself. I present you with the next part of our tale! I must tell you know that I switched back to Artie and next week is gonna be Mike. Eventually these two will meet and I can stop confusing you all but not yet friends not yet. Oh hey if you could be so kind as to tell me if you see any typos and things I'd be greatful. I checked before posting but sometimes things get away from me. Ok let's see what next? Oh yes the warnings.

**Warnings: Fire (You'll understand that soon.), angst, cussing maybe I can't quite recall.**

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><p>Artie was jerked somewhat out of his self pity when his cell phone rang. Oh that's right he was on the phone before. Maria must have hung up and called back. He picked up the phone and answered weakly, "Hello?" His voice cracked and he had to choke back a sob. He couldn't cry. He <em>never<em> cried. Jake would totally punk him if he cried, except Jake would never do anything ever again, because he turned into a zombie and he'd just bashed his head in.

"What happened? Something happened didn't it? I could sort of hear what was going on for a bit, but I think you got too far away after awhile so I hung up and called back to get your attention."

"I killed Jake." He stated simply.

"I'm sorry can you repeat that? I think I'm still in shock from before, because I could've sworn you just said you killed Jake."

"I did Maria. I killed him. He was one of them and I had too, just like your roommate."

"Oh no! I didn't know Jake was one too! Did you have any idea?"

"He was sick just like Stacy, just like that girl from earlier too I'm assuming. I didn't think anything of it 'til a little bit ago. I wonder if I could have saved him, if I could have done anything for him. He was more than my cousin. He was one of my best friends. They all mean so much to me and I don't know what I would do if I lost you too." Silent tears rolled down his face as he spoke into the phone.

"Baby boy I know it hurts. Look, I'll grab some stuff and come over there. I can't stay here another second, and I know you must be feeling something similar. Just hold on for me okay?"

"Maria please be careful. We don't know how many other people out there are like this."

"I know Artie, I know. I will do my best to get to you alright?"

"Alright." He slide his phone shut and sunk to the floor wrapping his arms around his knees and placing his forehead on top of them. His heart was thundering in his ears and his whole body felt hot. Taking deep breaths to try and calm himself he closed his eyes and tried to block off all his thoughts. Emptiness would be so much better than everything that he was currently thinking. There was so much going on in his head that it was starting to throb. He hoped Maria got there soon. He hoped she got there okay since he was on the subject. That brought him back to the thoughts he didn't want to have. A knock came at the door and he was once again startled out of his thoughts. Standing up he made his way to the door and looked through the peep hole before opening it. Seeing Maria standing there in front of him was one of the greatest sights he felt he'd seen in a long time. He threw his arms around her and buried his face in her neck. "I'm so glad you're okay."

"I'm glad I'm okay too." She joked trying to lighten the serious mood for both of their sakes while hugging him back just as tight. He smacked her in the shoulder and gave her a tiny half smile.

"That's not funny and you know it."

"Well you seem to be smiling so it had to be a little bit funny. However if it makes you feel any better I'm really glad you're okay too."

"It makes me feel a little bit better. Now get in here before I really freak out. This hallway is weird under normal circumstances. Now I wouldn't trust it with my most hated possession." He dragged her into the apartment and shut the door with force. It wasn't a slam, but it was harder than it really needed to be. "Here, you sit here. I'll be right back." He went into his room and pulled the sheet off of Jake's bed knocking the blankets on the floor in his haste. Taking the sheet he went over to his cousin's body and placed it over him. It was the least he could do all things considered. Maria watched him mutely as she couldn't think of any words to say that could possibly make him feel better in a situation like this. What could you say? Oh I'm sorry your cousin turned into a zombie and you had to beat him over the head? She just waited for him to come back over and patted him on the back comfortingly, or so she hoped.

Artie looked up at her suddenly and spoke. "I don't know if I can stay here." He paused for a moment. "We shouldn't leave while it's still dark though, so I guess I have to suck it up." He stood up and headed to the bathroom. He wasn't really sure what he felt he would accomplish by going into the bathroom, but he felt he needed to do something with himself or he would go crazy, if he wasn't crazy already. Looking in the mirror he took in his appearance and grimaced. It had only been a few hours since he'd last seen his own face, but there was a drastic change in it. His face was ashen and he could see tear tracks on his cheeks. He splashed water on his face and dried it off before heading back to Maria. "We need weapons."

Maria looked at him a little lost for a moment before what he was saying clicked. "Yea, among other things."

"I wonder if it's totally chaos outside yet or if there's still time to get our shit together before everybody goes into mass hysteria."

"Well while I was outside it seemed pretty calm. I did hear a scream coming out of my dorm as I left, but I was too busy panicking and worrying about you to investigate mysterious screams in the night. I can't say for sure I would have even if I wasn't, this is just too extreme for me."

"I agree, I keep hoping that if I just close my eyes, I'll wake up and this all turned out to be a nightmare. I remember when I was younger I would plan out what I would do if a zombie attack ever happened. I never thought I would actually need it for something."

"Oh you did that too." Maria asked with a half smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "I feel less lame for doing that when I was younger now."

"I wish my ninth grade drama teacher was here right now." Artie said seemingly out of nowhere. It was silent for a moment as Maria tried to make sense of what he just said. Coming up blank she looked at him with a face that equated to, what the hell are you talking about? Seeing her questioning glance he elaborated. "He was obsessed with zombies and had this survival guide thing. It was like a stack of cards telling you how to do this, or what weapons to use, and how to barricade a building."

"Ahhh okay I see. That makes sense now. I thought you had cracked or something. Do you happen to remember what these survival cards were called? They sound extremely useful right now and I think we could use all the help we can get."

"I don't think I ever knew, but that's what the internet is for. Assuming it still works. I really can't be asked to look it up right now." He told her looking suddenly exhausted.

"Are you tired? You should sleep; I'll stay up and keep lookout for … something I don't know zombies I suppose. I don't feel like they'd wonder way up here, but I guess it's better safe than sorry."

"No, no I'm not tired. I couldn't just leave you awake by yourself with … I just couldn't."

"Do me a favor. Go to sleep, or I can knock you out. Your choice, but either way you will not be awake." He gaped at her wondering if she was really serious. She just examined her nails as if she hadn't just threatened his well-being.

"Fine, I'd rather not have head trauma so I'll _try _and sleep. Emphasis on the word try."

Artie lay on the couch and closed his eyes. He managed to get to the brink of sleep before his unhelpful mind reminded him this was where Jake and been sleeping when he got home that afternoon. He jerked up to a sitting position and placed his head in his hands and pressing on his eyelids as if he could push the thoughts out that way. Maria looked at him concernedly from her place on the overstuffed chair that resided next to the couch where she had been reading a magazine. The look in her eyes asked if he needed something and he shook his head waving her off. He laid back down and forced himself to have an empty mind so he could sleep.

The next thing he knew he was being shaken awake by a bleary eyed Maria who seemed to have fallen asleep herself at some point in the night. He sat up with a yawn and stretched his arms over his head almost smacking her in the face as she hadn't moved quite far away from him yet. She shot him a half hearted glare and wondered off to the bathroom for what he assumed was a shower seeing as she had a bag that he never noticed her having before with her. He must have dozed off again while waiting for her to come out, because he woke up to the smell of toast. Opening his eyes he looked over at the kitchen just in time to see Maria walk out with a plate of the aforementioned food item.

"So how did you sleep?" She asked him gently, talking softly as if she would cause some sort of disaster by talking too loud. As if things could get worse.

"Pardon my phrasing, but like the dead. I didn't know I was asleep 'til I wasn't." He snatched a piece of toast off the plate and bit into it. Maria had been so nice as to not serve him dry toast and instead had apple butter on them which was his favorite. He suspected that to be the reason she did it as he knew she was partial to grape jelly on her toast.

She made a face at his words, but said nothing. "So where do we go from here?"

"The police?" He guessed, though at this point they had to know what was going on and were probably swamped with work, that or dead. This whole zombie thing was taking Artie already normally cynical personality to new heights and he knew he had to get a grip before somebody did it for him. "We need to get supplies. We can load them into your truck. You did drive your truck over here right?"

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yea, I brought that monstrosity of a vehicle." She'd had it since she was fifteen. Her parents had been paranoid that she'd wreck their car while learning to drive so they went out and bought her a huge used truck. She hated trucks with a fiery passion, but over the years she had grown attached to hers not that she would ever admit that to anyone. Artie grinned at her reaction to his question already knowing she secretly loved that thing. She was his best friend after all; he had to know these things or he wouldn't be a very good one now would he?

"Well off to Wally World than. Come along lass." Artie was about to make his way out the door when he was clothes lined by his collar because Maria was holding on to said collar.

"I think you're forgetting something."

"And what would that be?" He questioned while rubbing his throat.

"Gather all the stuff you have here that we can use. That is unless you just want to come back here. That means we have to do something with-"

"NO!" He interrupted, "Uh I mean, I'd rather not stay here no. We should do something with … well you know."

"Do you want to umm, bury him?" She asked tentatively as she didn't know what might set him off.

"He said he always wanted to be cremated, because the thought of rotting in the ground freaked him out, which in turn freaked me out so we both agreed we wouldn't be buried."

"So you wanna burn him? How are we gonna do that?" She was skeptical of this idea and he could see it on her face. Instead of trying to alleviate her concerns he made a joke of it.

"Well with fire of course." She punched him in the arm and he winced. Why was he best friends with someone who was so abusive? His arm was sure to bruise from that one, but maybe he deserved that one. "Okay ow, guess that wasn't as funny as it was supposed to be. I guess we just wrap him in a sheet and ya know … burn him. We're not exactly professionals so that's the best we can do. He wanted to be one with the Earth or some such nonsense anyway so I guess it's just as well we can't like put him in a vase, or an urn, or whatever the hell those things are called that you put peoples ashes in."

"So we just burn him outside? Do you want to stay there 'til the fire goes out or leave before any unwanted guests come along?"

"I don't want to just leave him, but I don't know if it'd be the wisest choice to just stand around watching a fire like a bunch a cavemen considering what's going on in the world right now. At least I assume it's the world and we don't just live in the most suck ass place in America, because then I would be pissed."

"I highly doubt it's just us. We can't be that special. I agree though, I'd be pissed too, if that was true." She shook her head and got back on the subject at hand. "So should we do it now or after we get all the crap we need together?"

"Crap first, I'm not super eager to do this."

"I understand."

They went around the apartment gathering things they thought they might need and brought them to Maria's car. Once they were finished with that they set to do the arduous task of cremating Jake. Artie was very hesitant about this, but he knew it had to be done. There was no way that he would just leave his cousin there, and he wasn't going to bury him against his wishes no matter how much he wished he could take the easy way out. He respected him too much for that and knew that if their roles had been reversed he would do the same. With Maria's help he carried him out into the hallway wrapped in the sheet and made their way to the elevator. The plan was to head up to the roof as that seemed to be a safer place then the ground. As long as no one else (and by no one else this obviously meant zombies) was up there.

Once they made it to the rook they set him down. Artie pulled out the bbq lighter the two had always used for all their fire lighting needs. There was less chance they would burn themselves with it as it was longer and they were both pretty clumsy when it came to things like that. His hand wavered as the lighter neared the edge of the sheet. Unsure if he could do it he looked to Maria for help. She gave him an encouraging smile and urged him on. Taking a steadying breath he swallowed and lit the sheet. He didn't know if it was just his own wrapped sense of reality or somebody up there really wanted to mess with him, but it seemed like the fire crawled up the sheet in super slow motion. It was like watching a car crash. The want, no the need to look away was so strong it was making him dizzy, but he just couldn't make himself do it.

After what felt like an eternity the body was fully consumed in flames and burning brightly. The smoke curled into the sky in graceful arks and Artie swore he could make out Jake's face in it. Maria, feeling it was time to go, patted him on the back and guided him off the roof. He allowed himself to be lead away like a lost child as he just couldn't muster up the strength to fight her, not that he really wanted to. She led him to her truck and pushed him into the passenger seat before getting into the driver's seat and starting the truck.

"It's gonna be okay Art." That was all she said before starting the car and driving off.


	5. Chapter 5

01-29-12

I changed my mind about switching back to Mike. We'll just wait for him to reappear in the story instead of this back and forth stuff as much fun as I'm sure you all think it is. Again if you could be so kind as to inform me of any typos that'd be great. I hope you all aren't getting bored or anything. Intresting parts will come soon. Let's see ... oh yes warnings.

Warnings: Angst, Zombies, Profanity, Despare. (Can you tell I just make up these warnings up as I go?)

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><p>After she started driving she realized she actually had no idea where they were going. This was not the best time to ask Artie anything so she set a course on her own and hoped it'd be okay with him later. As she drove she looked around and observed her surroundings noticing little things that showed stuff was going wrong. The longer she drove the bigger the hints got until there was no way even the biggest moron couldn't figure out there was trouble afoot. At first there was just a car or two out of place, then things strewn in the street. After that there was what looked like bodies, but they were all in dark corners or shoved half under bushes carelessly. She drove by too fast to get a good look at them, but she felt that was probably for the best anyway. Turning her head slightly she to check on Artie, she found him staring aimlessly at his hands in his lap. She was worried about how he was acting, but at the same time she was glad he wasn't aware of his surroundings and thus wouldn't notice all the havoc and chaos. Granted it wasn't as bad as she thought it was going to be, but there was always time for things to get worse.<p>

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Up ahead, there was a massive cluster of cars blocking the road. Some of them were piled on top of each other or flipped over. There was even one that looked like it had been on fire. Some cars were just sitting there as if the driver had simply stopped and walked away. However upon closer inspection, some of those cars had what seemed to be blood smeared on the door. The cars were right in front of a stoplight. Maria stopped her thought's there and maneuvered her way around the cars by driving on the sidewalk. Damn the laws when the dead were walking right? Finally reaching the destination she had picked out she parked the truck and turned it off before she nudged Artie to get his attention and spoke.

"Okay before you say anything I had no idea where I should go so I just came here. Maybe we can see if anyone else is all right and if not we can just go somewhere else. I just kinda figured that with it being Sunday and all there would be less people around, meaning there are less people to be … well you know what I mean." Artie looked at her skeptically, but just shrugged and nodded his head in agreement or maybe just compliance.

In an unexpected movement, Maria reached across the console and pulled Artie into a tight hug. Startled by the action he didn't respond right away, but after a moment wrapped his arms around her just as tight. In the past twelve hours they've hugged more than they had all the previous week. Apparently they needed a national disaster to get their hug on. The thought made Artie crack a bit of a smile, but Maria of course didn't see it.

"Thank you Maria. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Artie, I don't know what I'd do without _you_, so we are completely even."

Suddenly there was a pounding on the passenger side window and they both screamed. Looking at the window they see none other than Toni. Rolling down the window a crack Artie called out.

"Toni man, what are you doing? You nearly gave us both heart attacks and after everything I'm really not in the mood to _**die**_ okay?"

"Sorry guys, but I really need you to open the door."

"Why do we need to open the door?" Maria asked quizzically.

"Well because I'd rather not die today either thank you very much." Toni gestured behind him and upon looking Maria and Artie saw two or three undead walking in their direction. Eyes going wide, Maria unlocked the doors allowing Toni to hop into the backseat before quickly relocking the door and restarting the car. Just as she threw it into reverse there was another pound on the window and everyone one in the car tensed and slowly turned their head. Standing at the window were the zombies Toni had pointed at moments before. Swallowing a scream Maria tore out of the parking lot and in her heist smacked into them causing blood to be smeared on the exterior of the car. By the sounds of it Toni was in the back hyperventilating and Artie was sitting with his eyes wide and his back rigid. After driving a decent distance away she stopped and slumped over the steering wheel.

"Please, let's never do that again." She pleaded with closed eyes.

"I hope we don't have to." Toni said seemingly over his previous bout of breathing troubles.

"Tell me again why you thought the school was a good idea Maria?" Artie asked in a somewhat bitter tone, with his arms crossed, staring at the ceiling of the truck.

"Hey!" She yelled annoyed, "Don't you dare try and blame this on me. Look on the bright side, we saved Toni. Think about what might have happened to him if we hadn't come."

"Let's _**not**_ do that!" Toni stated in a somewhat panicked voice.

Artie gave a long suffering sigh and looked first at Maria and then at Toni. "Okay, I'm sorry. You're right it wasn't your fault and it was pretty lucky for him, but now what do we do?"

"We can cruise around for more people?" She suggested in a questioning tone.

"We only have room for one or two more people. Unless you wanna strap people to the luggage rack, because we need the bed for supplies."

"What supplies?" Toni had only been half listening, to busy looking at the window for movement. His paranoia was making him jumpy and every time a leaf blew by he would twitch. Artie looked at him funny, but decided against saying anything about it.

"We're off to the store to get supplies. We can't survive this on good looks alone buddy. I mean if we could than we'd be all set." Toni side-eyed him from the backseat and Artie just shrugged and smiled. Maria just rolled her eyes and disregarded his remark.

"_Anyway_ getting one or two more people is better than letting them wonder around out there alone. They might have someone they need to get back too. We could at least give them a ride." That last comment made Artie think of something.

"Hey Toni, what were you doing here anyway? I thought you were supposed to be home with your mom and little sister." Toni paled at the question and averted his eyes. Maria seeing this fully turned around in her seat.

"Toni," she started slowly, "did something happen to them?" Toni bit his lip and shook his head.

"No they … I don't wanna talk about it okay." He returned his gaze to the window recommencing his watch.

Frowning, Maria sat back down and started the car again, making her way slowly down the street. For a while everything was quiet and still. Soft snoring could be heard from the back meaning Toni must have fallen asleep. The two passengers shared a look both wondering the same thing. How long had he been awake and running around? Another period of uneventful silence passed only to be broken by someone running in front of the car. Maria screamed as she slammed on the breaks. Artie's forehead smacked against the dashboard and a crack was heard. Groaning as he sat up rubbing his head he examined his glasses which had taken the worst of the damage. The left lens had a huge spider web crack in them and there was no way he could use them like that. Rubbing the bridge of his nose he looked at the windshield to see just what the hell caused them to have to stop so suddenly. Standing in the front of the car with their palms on the front of the vehicle was a girl around their age with a frantic look on her face. Toni, having been startled awake by the sudden stop rolled down his window and poked his head out.

"Uh, can we help you?" The girl ran around to his window with such speed Toni jerked away.

"I'm sorry, but can you please help me?" She begged with tears in her eyes. "I don't know what's going on, but I woke up and everyone was gone, and there was blood all over the kitchen, and I just want Josh, and, and …" She trailed off and broke down into heart wrenching sobs. Seeing this, Maria got out the truck and went to comfort the girl; concerned over her hasty actions Artie followed and Toni not wanting to be left out tentatively exited as well. Maria unsure what the girl would allow, put a hand on her shoulder and gently patted it. Still sobbing uncontrollably, the girl turned her body and pressed herself into Maria. Not expecting this, she wrapped her arms around her in reflex. Artie and Toni looked on in unease. Maria rubbed the girl's back and shushed her.

"Hey, it's okay. You can stay with us, right guys?" The other two gave some sort of mumbled response that Maria rolled her eyes at, but assumed meant yes. "Come on let's get you into the car." After helping the girl into the backseat everyone got back into their respective places and the car was once again set into motion. Noticing Artie for the first time Maria asked, "What happened to your forehead?"

Looking at her in confusion he replied, "What's wrong with my forehead?"

"You're bleeding, and why don't you have your glasses on?" A look of understanding crossed his face.

"I must have split my forehead open when we stopped before."

"Just how did you do that?"

"You didn't see me face plant into the dash? My glasses cracked and everything, that's why I'm not wearing them. It's my own fault for not wearing a seatbelt, but it's still annoying."

"I'm sorry," said a small voice from the back seat. "I didn't mean to hurt anybody, I was just scared." Artie had turned around after she had first started speaking and was now looking at her with an unhappy frown.

"That's alright, it wasn't all your fault Maria is such a lame driver." Maria smacked him in the head without turning from the road. "She's also very abusive to me." He said the last part louder than necessary to make she sure heard it, although how could she not seeing as he was right next to her. "Anyway, I'm Artie, that's Toni, and as you've probably guessed that's Maria. Who are you?"

"Oh well I'm Lola. It's um, very nice to meet you all." She hesitated for a moment before asking, "So, where exactly are we going?"

"That, my dear Lola, is a really good question that I really wish I knew the answer to. Maria has just been driving around campus with no goal in mind other then to rescue people. We seem to be really good at that." He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and turned back around in his seat. Lola seemed worried about not have a plan in mind, but as long as she wasn't alone she didn't feel the need to voice her objections to anyone. She was too busy hopping they wouldn't abandon her after they found out her secret.

"Marrrrrria!" Artie sang out after silence had reigned for a couple minutes. Flicking her eyes from the street to his face in a passing glance she answered.

"What Artie" This was said in a tone of voice reminiscent of one used to respond to an annoying child.

"We should go to the store now."

"And why is that?"

"One it's important, and two I'm kind of sort of hungry." The end of his sentence was said in a mumbled rush.

"Did you just say you were hungry Artie? Are you serious?"

"Well I'm sorry. It's not like I did it on purpose. I bet everyone else is too right?" He looked towards the backseat for support. After a pregnant pause the other two nodded. "See, I told you."

"Oh for pity sake. Fine, we can go to the store." She pulled a U-turn and headed downtown.

As they drove everyone noticed the lack of people or life in general. Not to say the place was swarming with undead, they seemed to be missing as well. It was completely weird to them for everything to be so abandoned so quickly.

"Okay either we are completely doomed, or we missed something that would explain why no one dead or alive seems to be around." Artie said bluntly. He was never one to sugar coat things, but judging by the look on Lola's and Toni's faces, now would have been a really good time for him to start. Groaning, Maria threw a glare at him and flipped on the radio to see if they had in fact missed something important. Luckily she had turned it on just in time to here the beginning of some announcement.

"_We interrupt you regularly scheduled programming to give you this announcement. All residents in Paris County please be on the alert. There have been several sightings of what is being called human remobilization, but what you would more commonly refer it to as a zombie outbreak. We are, at the moment, unsure of what caused this outbreak, but the warning signs of impending zombafication are as follows: Cold like symptoms, extreme fatigue, deadened reflexes, seizers while unconscious, and having no vital signs while their chest continues to move. If you or someone you knows exhibits any of these qualities quarantine them immediately. If after 24 hours no change has occurred it is okay to assume no death will occur. The contraction of this disease is similar to that of a cold. Once someone is fully taken over by the illness it is no long contagious in this way. The other way to catch it is the transfer of fluids such blood or saliva. An emergency evacuation is in effect and will continue until Sunday at noon. Please meet at your local community centers. Anyone who does not make this evacuation will have to wait 2 weeks for another transport. This message will be placed on a continuous loop starting now at 3 A.m. Good luck and God bless._

Maria turned off the radio and stopped the car with a horror stuck expression on her face. "Guys … what time is it?" You could hear everyone's individual breathing in the silence of the car after her question.

Nervously Artie looked at his watch to note the time. His heart fell in his stomach once he saw it. "It's 12:30."

The silence continued for another moment before sound just exploded within the car. Maria was banging her head on the steering wheel and hitting the horn, Artie was letting loose a string of profanities that would shock a sailor, Lola was crying again, and Toni seemed to be on the verge of joining her as soon as he finished his loud chant of, "Oh Lord, we're gonna die." After a couple minutes of this Artie got fed up and hollered.

"Okay everyone SHUT UP!" The sudden volume of his voice shocked everyone into being quiet. "We just have to stay alive for 2 weeks. It's not that hard. We managed to do it for this long I think we should be able to continue as long as we don't do anything stupid."

"Define stupid." Toni said worriedly.

"Anything that seems like a great idea drunk, or for example, if you were to run screaming down the road right this very minute with no regard for your safety, that would be stupid." Toni frowned at him, but said nothing else, because he was either satisfied with his answer, or he didn't want to hear what else he might say.

"2 weeks seems like a really long time. What if … what if we don't make it that long?" Lola asked in a quiet, child like voice. Maria clamped a hand over Artie's mouth before he could speak. She'd known him long enough to guess what he might say and nobody wanted to hear his cynical view of the world during an apocalypse. It was bad enough on a good day.

"We will, I can feel it in my bones. We just have to stay together and find somewhere safe to stay. I really feel like one of the campus buildings would be a good place. It's got open space and not a lot of creepy corners where things can pop out at you. We just need to barricade the doors and windows." Artie sat in thought for a bit before nodding in acquiesces.

"Which building has like 2 stories, few windows and doors, and is close to cafeteria. As far as safe places go that sounds like a decent description of what we want." He was in planning mode and it was best to just go along with what he said when he was like this, because he would get extremely grouchy when disagreed with in this state. Generally he had good ideas, so really it wasn't that big an issue.

"Well I think the closest thing to that is the library. There are a lot of windows on the second floor, but that's not as big a deal as it would be if they were on the first floor right?" Artie nodded his head.

"Do you guys think that sounds like a good place?" Maria felt like the other two would agree with whatever as long as they weren't left behind, but she asked anyway out of politeness. Toni shrugged and Lola nodded eagerly. "Alright than off to the store then back to the library. I guess we don't have to pay for anything seeing as the town's people are gone. This is important enough that I won't even feel bad for it." She was talking almost to herself at this point as they drove to the store. Once there the first thing the noticed was a gaping hole where the doors had once been. By the looks of it, something big and powerful had driven through and taken at the doors. "Geeze I hope there's still some useful stuff left." Seeing as there was a big convenient hole in the store she drove right in and parked. "Alright so how are we gonna do this? Do we split up into groups or just stay together?"

"Ugh, this is Scooby Doo, let's just stay together. I'd rather not go gallivanting around without knowing where everyone is." Artie was ever the rational one, even if he was being blunt to the point of annoyance. He was given a break this time as they had all been through a lot.

They spent a good two hours in that store, carefully picking and choosing what to put in the truck bed. A lot of stuff had in fact been taken which is to be expected in a situation like this. There were still decent things to pick from and they took all they could. While there they only encountered four zombies and they were taken care of as quickly and quietly as possible so as not to attract any more. The first one had given everyone quite a shock and if Maria hadn't already been holding a bat and swung on reflex it might have ended worse than it did. After that everyone was on their guard, watching out for any others. Thanks to their watchfulness they spotted the last three with plenty of time to take care of them. Completing their mission at the store they hopped in the truck after making sure everything in the bed was secure and wouldn't fly out and headed for the campus library.


	6. Chapter 6

02-05-12

Again please tell me if there's a typo somewhere. I feel like I've been making a lot of these lately. I don't have much to say about this chapter so yea enjoy or ou know don't. I don't know why you're reading it if you don't but whatever floats your boat.

**Warnings: Shocking surprises (Can't tell you or it wouldn't be a surprise), fainting, ridiculous elabrate alien stories, and roof mishaps.**

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><p>The sights and sounds (or the distinct lack of sounds) were already becoming familiar and the group barely paid any attention to the World outside of the car. One thing did happen to catch their attention. Maria had just stopped at a red light, and only the Lord knows why she was still following traffic laws, and happened to look over and see what appeared to be a boy 11 or 12 years in age. Eyes widening, she was about to call out to him when something jumped on him. She let out a gasp as her hands flew up over her mouth. Curious as to what she was reacting to the others turned their heads just in time to see the boy get his throat ripped out by one of the undead. Everyone in the car yelled at Maria to drive and damn the red light and she did just that, slamming on the gas and speeding away. They were practically on the doorstep to the library before she relaxed her foot. She pulled to a stop next to the door and parked with the back end facing it for easier access to grab stuff and bring it inside.<p>

"Next time we go somewhere we most def need to get a wagon or something. It'd make moving all this stuff much neater." Artie suggested, trying to break the ice as no one had spoken since the red light. Everyone walked past him without as much as a second glace with their arms laden with supplies. "Or you could all ignore me, that's cool too." He mumbled to himself as he followed them inside with his own armful of stuff.

After nothing was left to bring in they went around blocking and boarding over the doors, windows, and hallways they wouldn't be using, or didn't want used by unwanted visitors. Soon they were finally satisfied with the progress that had been made. Improvements could be made after another supply run to a Home Depot or a similar store. Everyone splayed out in an emotionally drained and somewhat physically tired pile on the floor in the middle of the main library. Artie, ever the thinker, was busy thinking of other things they could do to make sure they didn't end up dead before they could get out of there. He was mentally making a list of things the needed to get at some point and plotting escape routes. As soon as he could be bothered to get up he would get some paper and write all this down.

As a kid he would always think about things like this. Things like what he would do if he was stranded on an island, what he would do if he was homeless, how he would survive in the jungle. He was a weird kid he'd admit, but all that was seemingly about to come in handy. He had so many things he wanted to try. As busy as his mind was, whirling with thoughts and ideas he suddenly found himself blinking in darkness. It seems he'd fallen asleep in the midst of all his thinking. How he managed to pull that off he would never know. He looked around saw Maria and Toni had also fallen asleep at some point. He assumed Lola was as well until he saw the glint her eyes made as they reflected moonlight streaming in from the windows way up on the ceiling.

"Are you alright?" He asked in a whisper so as not to wake the others. They deserved to sleep after the day they had.

"Yea, I'm fine. I just wasn't tired. I kept watch for you guys. If anything happened I'd have woken you all up."

He gave her a big smile he wasn't sure she could see in the dimness. "Well thanks, I appreciate that."

"Artie can I, can I tell you something?" Lola asked stuttering slightly in her nervousness.

"Shoot, I'm all ears." She made an audible swallow as she mentally prepared herself to tell him her secret.

"Artie I'm … pregnant." His mouth fell open and he stared at her in stunned horror. Here he thought nothing else could possibly go wrong and she tells him this.

"How far along are you Lola?"

"I'm due in a week or two." Again he stared at her. Was so being legit with him right now? She was so small. Seeming to understand his disbelief she lifted up her sweatshirt to reveal that there was in fact a small baby bump under there.

"Why are you so tiny if you're like 9 months along?" She shrugged at him and pulled her sweatshirt back down.

"Some people are just small. Trust me, I think it's pretty weird too."

"Why'd you tell me?"

"I felt you deserved to know. You all do. I don't want to be a burden, and I'd understand if you don't want me to stay with you all now."

"None of us would ever kick you out for that. I don't know how anyone could be so heartless. You can stay with us as long as you like and I'm sure the others would agree if they were awake." He felt a touch on his shoulder, and it startled him so bad that he ran forward and ended up tripping over his own feet and falling. Somehow he twisted mid fall and ended up on his bottom staring at Maria, who had been the one to touch him, covering her mouth in an attempt not to laugh.

"I'm really sorry Artie. I didn't mean to scare you like that." I few giggles slipped out of her mouth as she apologized.

"That was not funny."

"It was kind of funny." Lola said letting out a few giggles of her own.

"Anyway," Artie started holding his hand up in the universal sign of I'm ignoring you now, "how long have you been awake?"

"Long enough to know we have a baby on the way." Her bout of giggles had calmed down enough for her to answer his question comprehensibly.

"Great , now we don't have to explain it to you."

"Someone still has to tell Toni." She told him.

"Who has to tell me what now?" Toni asked groggily from his position on the floor. All their talking had woke him up.

"I'm pregnant." Lola helpfully supplied.

"Oh that's nice." Toni told her before falling back in a dead faint. The other three rushed towards him to see what happened.

"Did he just … faint?" Artie asked not sure if he wanted to be concerned, or if he just wanted to laugh.

"Um, yes I believe that is in fact what happened." Maria told him as she smacked Toni lightly in the face trying to wake him up. "Toni, hey Toni wake up!"

"Frosted flakes are great." He mumbled on the verge of walking up. That did it. Artie decided he was going to laugh as soon as Toni finished speaking. His laughter is what fully roused him out of his passed out state.

"What's so funny?" He asked confused.

"You, I can't believe you fainted, and then you started babbling about Frosted Flakes. I know your name is Toni, but oh my goodness you are ridiculous."

"I fainted? Why would I faint?"

"Well I wish I could tell you, but I have no idea. The last thing that happened before you went down was Lola telling you she was pregnant."

"Oh please tell me this is some elaborate joke. I thought I was still asleep when I heard that." Toni groaned at the thought.

"Sorry bud, it's all true. I know it's not the best news, but hey look on the bright side, we get the miracle of life in the midst of all this death and what not."

"Artie, your cheeriness is not wanted at this point, leave a message at the beep."

"Fine than Toni, next time you're sad don't talk to me about it. I won't wanna hear it." Artie turned around and dramatically walked off, but soon came back as he wasn't sure where he was running off to.

"Why are you such a ridiculous moron?" Maria asked sitting down next to Toni and patting his back comfortingly.

"Why are you so mean?" He counted, "These are the questions we ask, but will they ever be answered?"

"Okay so did he like get into some sugar or something while we were all sleeping, because he's acting stupider than normal and I don't get it." Toni asked Maria with a bemused look on his face.

"He just gets like this sometimes. Don't worry in about 10 minutes he'll be calm again, and he'll be just as confused as the rest of us as to why he was just acting like that."

"Well that is a relief. I'm just gonna go over here, away from him, and eat something before I faint. I'm still a growing boy, apocalypse or no." He walked to the other side of the room where they had set up a 'kitchen' area that had ready to eat boxed food 'til they could get something better set up.  
>"Hey Artie you know what you should do? You should take a trip to the roof and check it out. Think you can handle that all by yourself?" Maria was trying to be rid of him 'til he calmed down and giving him menial tasks was the easiest way to do that.<p>

"Oh for sure. I'll be back in flash." He jogged towards the steps whistling, or trying to whistle as it was rather hard to do while jogging.

"Oh no, take your time!" She called after him. Turning her attention to Lola she sat down and gestured for the other girl to come over and join her. "So you're pregnant huh? When was the last time you saw the father. I don't mean to be morbid or anything, but being born in this world the way it is now is sad enough without only having one parent." Lola just shrugged and looked up at the ceiling, staring out of one of the windows.

"The last time I saw him was yesterday. I woke up this morning and he and everyone else was gone. I don't know what happened to him, but I really hope he's okay."

"What's his name?"

"His name is Josh."

"I remember you saying something about a Josh earlier when we first met you. I didn't think much of it at the time."

"Yea, I was kind of hysterical, I can understand you not paying much attention to what I was saying." She let out a small sigh and looked back at Maria. "Hey do you think we could turn on a light or something? It's weird to be talking to you in the dark like this."

"Oh yea sure. Let me just find a switch or something." She got up and walked across the room and felt along the wall 'til her hand found a switch. Well she supposed it was a switch. It was more like a dial. She twisted it and the lights gradually started coming on. Maria left the lights and a high enough level to see by but low enough not to hurt anyone's eyes after the harsh darkness of the night. "There, that's much better. Now I don't feel like I'm talking to a ghost with shiny eyes."

Lola gave her a small smile. "I think I'd much rather deal with ghosts than the problems we have at hand." She sighed again and run a hand through her hair before tugging a piece into her mouth and chewing on it. She looked up to Maria staring at he with a bemused expression on her face. She blinked and realized what she was doing. The hair in her mouth was spit out before she spoke again. "Sorry, nervous habit, I know it' kind of weird and kind of gross."

Maria shrugged, "I guess it's not any better or any worse than biting your nails." Lola smiled a slighter bigger smile than the last. Their peaceful moment was ruined when Artie mumbling under his breath returned.

"Why did you send me to the roof? What is on the roof? I don't even know why I was stupid enough to actually go. Damn my random bursts of hyper activity."

"Boy you can say that again. You're like that squirrel thing on Ice Age when you get like that." Maria stated as if she wasn't completely insulting him.

"Did you really just equate me to a cave squirrel? I thought we were homies yo."

"We are homies, but you are also really stupid upon occasion. Don't deny it because we both know it's true." He just stuck his tongue out at her and went to find something useful to do like find that paper to write down his thought like he should have done before but fell asleep.

Artie was soon replaced by Toni as he wondered back over. "Did I miss anything exciting?"

"Yes, yes you did. You missed the fact that we're all secretly aliens from space and we made this elaborate plan to kidnap you and take you to our leader so he can probe you and unlock the mystery of mankind. After that we're going to implant a fetes in your esophagus so it can eat you from the inside as it grows and matures allowing our species to not die out. After the great war of 392 it's been harder for our kind to reproduce and without the help of you humans we probably wouldn't be able to do it at all." Toni stared at her opened mouth throughout her whole tale which she managed to tell with a straight face all. Once she was finished he blinked and walked away shaking his head. Lola was sitting on the floor tucked into herself shaking from laughter and the occasional snort could be heard. Seeing the commotion Artie came back over again to see what was going on.

"What's so funny? What'd I miss by walking across the room?"

"I was telling Toni our plan to take over the World."

"Oh that alien thing again? You really gotta stop telling people that. It's supposed to be a secret." Lola's laughter was renewed upon hearing Artie's addition to the ridiculous story.

"You guys are nuts. I don't think I can take it." Lola said between giggles and gasps.

"Well if you can't take it I suppose we'll just have to keep it."

"Oh geeze Artie why are you so corny _all _the time?"

"Maria don't hate the player hate the game okay?"

"Can I hate both?"

"Oh that's just cold."

"As much as we're all enjoying this witty banter," Toni interjected having recovered from Maria's story, "Shouldn't we find something to keep ourselves occupied that doesn't involve your brother sister dynamic?"

Artie looked at Maria then back at Toni and shrugged. "Well if you want to be boring about it I guess we can. Just what do you suggest oh wise and powerful?" Toni opened his mouth to speak then stopped. A blank look crossed his face and he shut his still open mouth. After a beat he crossed his arms a sighed heavily with a somewhat defeated look on his face.

"I have zero ideas."

"That's what I thought. Since you are of no help I'll just have to use my wit and charm to figure out what to do." Artie leaned against the wall and put his chin in his hand giving an exaggerated thoughtful expression. Suddenly he got a look on his face that indicated he really did have an idea and possibly not a stupid one. "Let's go to the roof and observe."

"Just what is it that we're observing?" Maria asked skeptically.

"Well we're pretty much stuck here for the night, since I am not going out there with no sunlight, and we all just woke up for the most part so I know nobody's tired so I thought we should see what we're up against."

"I thought we knew what we're up against. Last time I checked they were zombies and I'm pretty sure that's what they're gonna stay like too." Toni stated in exasperation.

"Geeze and here I thought it was my job to be cynical. No wonder you keep smacking me Maria." She just shrugged at him.

"Soooo are we gonna go then?" Lola asked in a somewhat timid voice.

"Like we have anything better to do, let's go." Maria offered her hand to Lola and she gratefully took it.

Everyone including Toni, though he gave a dejected sigh, headed up to the roof to see what the World looked like from a bird's eye view. Having never made it all the way to the roof the last time he went this way he didn't have to think about the last time he'd stood on a roof hours earlier but that was not true of this trip. He tried to push the thoughts to the back of his mind and focus on the present but it was easier said than done. Once they actually got to the roof they all spread out and looked down at the campus from above. The power still worked for now and because of this the streetlights were on given them the perfect view of several stumbling figures all around the area. Maybe this hadn't been the best place to come after all but they were here now and just had to make due until which time they can find another place to move to. Maria seemed to have the same thought as she came over to him and whispered in his ear.

"Maybe we should go find guns and stuff tomorrow." Artie looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Do you happen to know how to use one of those, because I do not. As far as I can tell this is nothing like the movies and we all can't just magically find guns and know how to use them like a badass action star from the first shot."

She shook her head at him, "But we can practice and don't give me that face I know what you're thinking. If we do that would use all the ammo and be right back to square one but I thought of that too. We can get Bb guns to practice with and use the actual guns for zombie slaying." Artie let out a snort. "Don't laugh at me I'm being serious!" She couldn't help but crack a smile of her own as well. "Anyway, we could even find target dummies or something to practice on and if we can't find any we can make some."

"You seemed to have thought a lot about this."

"Well as lame as this may sound it sort of came to me in a dream." Artie had to turn around to keep from laughing in her face but she could tell by how his shoulders were shaking he was laughing at her. She playfully shoved him but realized her mistake when he lost his balance and almost toppled over the side. She grabbed his arm but not before he let out a loud yelp that sounded similar in pitch to a dog getting its foot stepped on. Not that he would ever admit to making such a noise. Toni and Lola rushed over to see what was going on and Artie sat down to insure he had no more accidents. "Oh my God Artie I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that I feel terrible now." He looked at her with an unreadable expression and just shrugged at her.

"Hey guys do you see this right now?" Toni said out of nowhere. He was looking over by a small cluster of trees and the other followed suit to see what he was talking about. There were four figures shuffling in the direction of the library.

"Oh no, Artie's yell must have attracted them. Now I feel worse than I did before. Maybe if we stay really quiet and don't let them see us they'll go away." They did just that and for five minutes the sat in silence not even daring to breath to loud even though they were at least fifty five feet in the air. Daring to take a peak over the edge of the roof Toni slowly looked around and didn't see any movement. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and tensed up before once again falling into a dead faint. Maria and Artie looked at him utterly befuddled and Lola looked on in horror her hand still raised in the air from when she'd touched him.

"Has he always been this sensitive?" Maria directed the question at Artie since he'd known the other boy longer.

"Well I didn't think so but I guess due to the situation things changed. Maybe he just doesn't do well with stress. He did always get really weird when we had tests in class."

While Maria and Artie were talking about that Lola was trying fruitlessly to wake Toni up. She shook him and lightly smacked his cheeks and nothing happened. Gently pushing her over Artie pinched Toni's nose shut and covered his mouth. This trick had always worked when trying to wake his cousin up and once again Artie and to force himself from thinking about him. After a few moments Toni's eyes snapped open and he smacked Artie's hands away so he could breathe. Lola let out a relieved breath and hugged him hard. Surprised by the sudden contact he hesitantly hugged back.

"I'm sorry I keep making you faint." Lola said before she released him.

"Uh, that's alright … I guess. Try not to make it a habit yea?" She nodded eagerly at him and he gave her a small smile which was returned.

"Well as much fun as this was," Artie started, "I'm quite ready to get off the roof. All those in favor of leaving, follow me." Without another word he headed back down to the main floor with the others following.


	7. Chapter 7

02-19-12

Authors note:

Sorry there was no update last week, but I decided to make it apart of the schedule so this will happen again. Anywho I don't have a whole lot to say about this chapter except it feels kind of filler-ish. I hope you don't get too bored reading it. The next chapter will be much better, I can tell you that.

**Warnings**: Cursing, zombie death, sadness. Nothing too interesting.

Like always tell me if there are typos, enjoy.

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><p>The next morning started much like the last. Everything in the World was quiet and still and nothing was as it should be. Everyone was awake but no one was talking or doing much of anything. They were all just sitting around in various places in the building lost in their own thoughts imagining what they would be doing instead if this was a normal day. This continued until late in the afternoon. The only changes were the positions and areas of the building people found themselves in. Nothing seemed able to break the monotony of the day. It was like the full weight of the knowledge they had was finally pressing on them. They all knew their town was a hell right now but it didn't sink in right away. They had been running on adrenaline and fear and once they were out of that exhaustion, but now after having a full night of rest their minds were clear and they couldn't help but over think the current situation. The thoughts floating through almost everyone's heads were different variations of things like, are we going to survive this, how will we get out of here, I don't want to die yet, we have to get out of here.<p>

The ones, who weren't worrying about their future, or severe lack thereof, were focusing on keeping their minds empty. It was easier for some than others. For example Artie and Maria were both trying to think of everything but dying and Artie was having better luck out of the two. Thoughts kept popping into Maria's head like killing her roommate or how her family was doing. That last thing was slowly causing her to get more and more panicked as hundreds of scenarios flashed through her head of them being ripped apart or becoming one of the ranks of the Undead. Artie could see her brain over heating from his position across the room and decided it was time he stopped moping and being anti-social and help her out. He walked over and sat down, placing a comforting arm around her shoulder. She leaned into and allowed herself to shed a few tears. Maria just didn't have the energy for an all out bawl fest at the moment and really she didn't want to cry. What she wanted to do was to stay hopeful and think everyone she cared about was fine and that she was just worrying for no reason. It just wasn't that easy especially with all the things they've already gone through and it's only been two days. Think what could happen today or tomorrow or next week! They somehow had to make it until help arrived and then what? There was no plan after that. Clearly more things had to be discussed and that wouldn't get done if everyone was acting like this all day.

Maria nudged Artie arm and stood up. Taking the hint he did as well looking at her questioningly. She indicated that he should follow her and then started looking for the others. First she found Toni laying flat on his back staring at the ceiling with and intense look on his face. It took a few tries to get his attention but once they had it he stood up and accompanied the other two on their search for Lola. She was curled up in a corner like an oversized cat and she looked so peaceful they didn't have the heart to wake her. Lucky for them Toni picked the moment to trip over a rug and the resulting thump stirred her from the drudges of slumber. Now that everyone was assembled Maria stood in front of them and contemplated her first words. After a moment she began to speak. "Okay look guys, I know we're all sad and the last thing anyone wants to do is something constructive but really we don't have time to wallow. Maybe after we're somewhere safe and secure we can look back to this time and completely lose your shit but until then we have work to do."

Toni cleared his thought before speaking. "Would you elaborate on that? I thought we already had like supplies and stuff, what work do we need to do?"

"We need to get more things. You thought we were set with what we already had? Oh no sir there is much more to be done. We need to get weapons and targets and all sorts of things. What we did before was just to get us set up. If we wanna survive this thing we need to get everything we possibly can and prepare for anything." Maria took a deep breath and looked at Artie who was nodding encouragingly. "So first thing we should do is make a list. Do not put anything on the list that you can live without for longer than a week. After we get set in a routine maybe we can get frivolous things." At this Artie felt the need to interject.

"Okay but what about entertainment. I know what you're thinking, now is not the time for fun, but we won't be doing this 24/7 and when there's down time we need more to do then listening to the shuffles and moans coming from outside. We'll all drive ourselves into the nut house. Well no, because there probably isn't a nut house left but you get the idea." Maria reluctantly agreed and they started planning.

After about two hours they had planned everything to death, pardon the pun. They felt mentally strained and couldn't think of anything else that was important right at that moment. Should anything else come to mind at a later time they were supposed to write it down somewhere. They had even planned a guard watch to keep them from being invaded or something similar. The list of things they needed to get seemed a mile long and nobody was really in the mood to go get it. It was decided that they could take a one hour break before everyone piled into the truck to get the things they needed. After the hour was up they set off.

Saying Mike was confused would be putting it lightly. He didn't know what he was doing and he really didn't even know where he was just then. After the events at his house he haphazardly through some stuff into one of his drawstring bags and left. He took the car he'd shared with Tina and just drove until he had to stop himself. He sat in the car staring blankly at the steering wheel unsure what to do. After a while he just shut down. There were no thoughts and he wasn't aware of his surroundings. If he'd been outside he'd have surly gotten attacked but since he was in a locked and parked car he was alright at the moment.

There was no way of telling how long Mike stayed like that but the next thing he knew he was sitting up and rubbing the wheel impression he had on his forehead. It seems he had fallen asleep at some point and was just now waking up. It was verging on a new day. The sun was far enough away that it was somewhat light outside but it wasn't actually in the sky yet. After starting the car he set off to an unknown destination. Soon after he came across what looked like a group of people. Upon closer inspection he could see that it was only one person and they were fighting off a pack of zombies. He looked on in horror for a moment before snapping out of it and grabbing the metal pipe he'd thought to bring with him. Luckily for him his dad had been doing some around the house project or another and had a pile of them in the garage. In his half panicked state he'd grabbed one before fleeing the house.

Mike quietly walked over to the group trying not to alert them of his presence. The person, a guy around his age, looked up and saw him but said nothing. He reached the first one and with and hard swing brought the pipe down on its head. The loud cracking of bone caught the attention of the other zombies and now they were split between going after Mike and the other guy. After an intense five or ten minutes all the zombies lay on the ground and the boys stood panting and sore from swinging their weapons. As soon as possible Mike was going to ditch the pipe and get something that wouldn't leave him so weak and rubbery feeling. After a minute spent catching his breath he finally looked over and took his first real good look at the guy he'd been fight alongside. His jaw dropped when he saw who it was. He could tell the other guy recognized him as well. There was a bought of awkward silence before Mike choose to speak. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying not to die, what are you doing here?" He replied in a nonchalant tone. Mike was not amused.

"That's not what I meant and you know it. You moved, why are you standing in front of me right now?"

"I came back Mike. What do you want me to say?" He shrugged his shoulders.

"Why didn't you tell me you were coming back?"

"I didn't tell you I left, so why would I tell you I was coming back. I've barely talked to you in three years. You're hardly the first person I would tell something like this to."

"Well whose fault is that Matt? I tried to keep in contact but some ass refused to answer me. I thought we were best friends. You kind of ditched me there." The other boy sighed and looked up at the sky in defeat. He knew it was his fault and the was no refuting that but now was hardly the time to be fighting about it.

"Look, can you yell at me about this someplace that's not here? I don't want your loud voice to attract more of the ghouls if you don't mind too terribly." Mike glared, but motioned for him to walk to the car. Once they were inside with the doors locked he turned and looked at him.

"So what was your excuse Matt? Why'd you just abandon me like that?" Sure it'd been over three years but seeing him again made it hurt all over again. At the time he'd been his only real friend and him having to move had devastated him.

"I did it because … it hurt okay? I was stupid and fifteen and I thought it'd be better not talking to you at all then over the phone or something as equally lame." Mike looked at him incredibly.

"Matthew Rutherford, I always knew you were a little slow but I had no idea you could come up with something that fucking stupid. I don't know what to say." Matt rolled his eyes and crossed his arms sitting back in the passenger seat.

"Can you just say nothing and move on? I sort of almost died and it'd be really nice to hear something nice and not being ripped a new one for being stupid."

"Something nice like what?"

"I don't know, how's your family? What were you doing way over here?" At those question the expression on his face completely shifted. He went from annoyed looking to what could only be described as heartbroken.

"I … I don't know where my parents are and … I had to kill Tina." He paused for a second. "Even the damn dog is dead. Everyone is just gone." Matt looked at him in horror. He felt like the biggest idiot this side of the state. Of all the things he could have asked after he was already agitated it was that.

"I'm so sorry. I can't even begin to know how you must feel right now."

"Where are your parents?" Since they were on the topic they might as well both be honest right?

"Uhh south Asia, I dunno. I forget, they said they'd be gone a month but it wasn't that big a deal because I don't live with them any more ya know, but I do still kinda miss them. I hope they're alright over there." Matt frowned at the thought of whatever it was that was going on over her happening over there too. Seeing the distress in his former best friends face he quickly tried to comfort him.

"Hey I bet they're fine. It's probably something stupid that's totally our fault and we're the only country that has it." He knew it was a lame attempt but it was all he had at the moment and it had put a small smile on Matt's face so job accomplished. Well now would probably be a good time to change the topic so Mike did just that. "Well I think it's time we set off."

"Set off where? You never did tell me what you were doing here."

"To be perfectly honest I have no idea what I was doing here okay? Maybe it was fate or something. Maybe my random travels lead me to save your butt from getting bit off."

"Why would you even say something as corny as that?" He rolled his eyes but it was easy to tell he was somewhat amused by his friends ramblings.

"Well I could go the depressing route." Just as he opened his mouth to spout of what was surly about to be nonsense a hand whipped out to muffle him. Even after three years Matt knew him well enough to know that this would not end well if he let him keep talking.

"Thanks but no thanks. I'll go with the happy corny fun time whatever."

"I thought you might." He shot him a wide grin that didn't quite reach his eyes but Matt didn't comment on it. Some things should just be left alone.

"So where are we going now?"

"I have no idea." Mike admitted seemingly unbothered by this.

"Don't you think we should figure out something like that before we go driving off into the rising sun?"

"We'll figure it out as we go. It's worked so far right? We can make a plan later." Matt shook his head and looked at the window. He'd let him do what he wanted for now, but sooner or later they'd have to make a real plan. Until then, he was content to just see how things go.


End file.
